CCR1 (C-C chemokine receptor type 1)

Mon, 03/23/2015 - 14:33

Chemokines play a central role in inflammation and are crucial for recruitment of immune cells to sites of infection. The chemokine-dependent activation of leukocytes occurs through binding to G-protein coupled receptors. These chemokine receptor subtypes can be divided into two major groups, CXCR and CCR. CCR1 in particular is a receptor for the leukocyte chemoattractant and hemopoiesis regulator macrophage-inflammatory protein (MIP-1), eotaxin, RANTES, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1), and other related beta chemokines. CCR1 regulates both stem cell proliferation and systemic inflammatory responses. Knockout mice lacking CCR1 have severe defects in neutrophil trafficking and proliferation. Within tissues, CCR1 is widely expressed, particularly in hematopoietic cells (neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocytes, and eosinophils), blood, vessels, and bone marrow. The CCR1 receptor has also been reported to be found in lung, brain, placenta, heart, skeletal muscle, and kidney.

Ponte et al used the CCR1 antibody in their studies assessing bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) migration capacity (1). They found that the mobility and homing of MSCs is tied to systemic and local inflammation microenvironments. The CCR1 antibody allowed Giunti's group to analyze cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with inflammatory neurological diseases (INDs), where they found an enrichment of a subset of memory T-cells that were recruited by inducible chemokines (2). Hartl's group also found that infiltrated neutrophils alter their chemokine receptor expression profiles in chronic inflammatory lung diseases (3). Junget al from Yonsei University employed the CCR1 antibody in their experiments on oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (4). There, they identified crosstalk between stromal fibroblasts and cancer cells helps to initiate and maintain successful carcinoma metastases. The role of the CXCR4 and CXCR5 chemokines in HIV-1 infection was monitored by Gouwy's group with the CCR1 antibody (5). Those researchers were interested in characterizing the complex space and temporal patterns established by the directional signals generated by multiple chemokines.